Historic museum records showed that Belgium used to house 7 species of large branchiopod crustaceans. Today this number has been reduced to two. Rediscovered in 2013 the last Belgian fairy shrimp populations are struggeling. They were found inhabiting wheel tracks on public unpaved roads in the province of Hainaut. It was the first observation since 1997 of a member of the Anostraca order in Belgium and the first sighting of Branchipus schaefferi since 1930.

Vanschoenwinkel, B., Brendonck, L., Pinceel, T., Dupriez, P., & Waterkeyn, A. (2013). Rediscovery of Branchipus schaefferi (Branchiopoda: Anostraca) in Belgium – Notes on habitat requirements and conservation management. Belgian Journal of Zoology, 143(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.26496/bjz.2013.119

While they are still there, some of the tracks have since then been filled in with rubble and all are highly eutrophied due to runoff from surrounding fields. We are on the lookout for candidate sites for re-introduction.